


Community Service

by anotherceganblog (Ranomnom)



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Zombies, Grady Memorial Hospital, M/M, Slow Burn, Terminal Illnesses, carl is 18
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 17:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15466542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranomnom/pseuds/anotherceganblog
Summary: After a bout of drinking ends in him crashing his truck into a streetlight, Negan is given community service instead of a prison sentence. He chooses to volunteer at the local hospital solely because of how close it is to his home. Still mourning the loss of his wife and daughter, he ends up letting one of the patients crawl his way under his skin. Carl Grimes isn't what he expected, but he just can't get this kid out of his head. Deciding to go the extra mile, he does everything he can to give the boy the life experiences he missed out on while stuck in the hospital. What he doesn't expect, however, is falling in love.





	Community Service

Negan hated funerals. As a child, he was never able to place exactly why he did. While, yes, they were uncomfortable, and he had to wear a suit and see relatives he’d rather avoid- but these were things everyone felt. It wasn’t until his wife’s funeral that he truly realized why he hated them. Something about a celebration of someone who isn’t there to see if just rubbed him the wrong way. Seeing relatives who had openly despised her while living giving heart-wrenching eulogies made him utterly nauseous. When his daughter passed, he refused to even have one. Instead, he spent that night burying his pain in bottles and bottles of whiskey and whatever else he could get his hands on. The pain didn’t go away, and in his drunken state, he thought a drive to clear his mind was a wise decision.

The wreck was disastrous. Thankfully, he was the only person involved and was relatively unharmed. His truck was trashed, as was the street light he had managed to knock over in the process. The judge was sympathetic with the knowledge of his loss, not that he wanted the man’s sympathy. However, community service was preferable to prison time, so he took it. Volunteering at a hospital couldn’t possibly be that bad.

The first day was relatively uneventful. The nurse given the task of showing him around was a young woman named Beth. He couldn’t remember her last name, but her face and blonde hair was memorable enough. She was pretty and plain, and her southern accent was extremely welcoming. She was kind and clearly loved by the rest of the staff. The tour was still boring, but her occasional tangents about certain patients and incidents from years passed made it bearable.

It was when they reached the end of the tour that things became interesting. Beth explained to him that this was the ward where patients with chronic ailments stayed- those that would likely stay here for the remainder of their lives. When she asked if he wanted to meet a few of the patients, Negan almost said “no.” God knows he’d had enough death in his life. However, he didn’t want to seem rude, and this was a punishment of sorts, so he merely nodded his head. The room she led him into was drastically different from any other hospital room. _Of course it is_ , he told himself. _The poor fuck that’s here lives here, this is their home_. Yet, that idea itself couldn’t have prepared him for what he saw.

The first thing that caught his attention was the walls. They were painted with murals, scenes of the outdoors. A rainforest, a desert, and some icy climate- probably the arctic. The paintings were impressive- not realistic, but very stylized. They brightened the room drastically.

The second thing Negan noticed was what was hanging from the ceiling. Countless silver objects were strung about the room, reflecting light in spots on the ceiling in a mesmerizing fashion. Upon closer inspection, the silver objects were some sort of aluminum or tin foil folded like origami into birds and flowers. Intricate hands had crafted these.

The third and final thing he noticed was the person who was confined to this room. A young boy, likely in his late teens, with wavy brown hair and pale skin. Negan was struck immediately by just how _beautiful_ the boy was. He had never thought of another man as pretty before, but this one truly was. The younger male was occupied by a square candy wrapper, currently folding it into what looked like a crane.

“Did you make all of these?” Negan mumbled, not even giving Beth a chance to introduce them to each other. He was impressed. It took a strong attention to detail to make such tiny origami- that much was obvious. The boy lifted his head, meeting Negan’s gaze with his own icy blue depths and striking him to the core. The man felt frozen on the spot, and it took a solid minute for him to even notice that the boy only had one visible eye, the other covered with gauze.

“Yeah. I have to spend all this time doing something,” the boy muttered, before dropping his attention back to the crane.

Beth sighed quietly, resting a hand on her hip. “Carl, please at least _try_ to be friendly to the new guy,” she scolded, though her tone lacked any kind of anger. She seemed disappointed by his actions, saddened.

Negan watched as Carl tilted his head, eyeing the blonde. “Why should I? He’ll just leave at the end of his sentence like everyone else. It’s not like he wants to be here.” Now, _that_ was annoying.

“What fuckin’ kind of angsty teen shit is that?” Negan spoke up, folding his arms. “You have some huge ass balls making assumptions like that. You don’t even know me.” He briefly regretted his vulgarity when he saw how shocked the nurse was by it, but the smirk that flashed across Carl’s face washed that regret away. He could have sworn he heard a snort.

“‘Huge ass balls?’ That’s a new one,” the teen muttered, shaking his head. “Where do you even find these guys, Beth? Do you just drag any drunk in off the street, now?” He paused for a moment, looking Negan over before speaking again. “It was a DUI, right? That’s the usual crowd I see around here.”

God, did Negan want to deny that. Anything to wipe that cold, smug look off this kid’s face. Who the _fuck_ did he think he was? Scoffing, Negan leaned forward a bit, offering a smirk to the teen. “Wouldn’t you like to know? But, since I’m just gonna ‘leave like everyone else’ and I ‘don’t want to be here,’ I don’t think that’s any of your fuckin’ business.”

For a split second, the teen looked guilty. He must have some sort of conscience, then, but he clearly didn’t plan on apologizing. Not yet, anyway. The older man’s smirk turned into a wide grin as he straightened back up. “Lighten up, kid. Can’t take a joke?” He teased, loving the immediate anger that he saw flash across the other’s face. Negan adored finding little ways to dig under people’s skin, and this kid was fascinating as hell. This moment was interrupted when Beth cleared her throat, visibly uncomfortable with the situation.

“Uhm, Mr. Negan? It’s five o’clock. That’s when your, uh, shift ends, isn’t it?” She murmured, glancing at him in uncertainty.

He regretted making it clear that he didn’t plan on staying longer than he had to, after all, things were just getting interesting, but he did have shit to do. He nodded to the girl, mumbling a “yeah, it is” before following her out. He spared one more glance at Carl, who was again immersed in folding the candy wrappers. When they reached the entrance of the hospital, Negan turned to Beth, folding his arms once more.

“Hey, is there any specific candy that kid likes? Y’know, to make those things in his room?” He asked, trying his damnedest to not seem soft. It wasn’t like he wanted to buy him some, but if he was going to be stuck here, he might as well get along with the patients. Beth’s smile made it clear that this sentiment was entirely lost on her.

“Oh, yeah. Carl really likes chocolate- like those little Dove chocolates? Milk and dark chocolate are his favorites,” she replied, clearly excited that Negan was “turning over a new leaf.” The thought nauseated him, so he only offered a grunt and short nod in response before leaving her alone in the entryway, making his way to the parking garage to try and find his motorcycle. Without his truck, his bike was all he had to get from place to place. He hadn’t ridden it since Lucille passed, as that those memories were best left untouched, but he didn’t really have a choice now. His truck was beyond saving, and he sure as hell wasn’t taking the bus or some taxi. That was out of the question. He didn’t want to deal with strangers or people in general longer than he had to. Not anymore. Solitude was his friend now, second only to booze- the latter being a relationship he would have to break up, thanks to his own stupidity.

Grumbling to himself as he mounted the motorcycle, he pushed away his thoughts of chocolates and regret, focusing on the ride home. Thinking was dangerous, and there was no way in hell he’d dedicate more time than necessary to this mess.


End file.
